Deputy ‘preyed on’ girl after responding to call at her house, Florida cops say

Madeleine List
·2 min read

A deputy was arrested after an investigator found that he’d been sending inappropriate text messages to a girl who was a victim in a sexual cyberharassment case, according to a Florida sheriff’s office.

The deputy, Charles Cruz, 35, was working as a patrol deputy on Feb. 19 when he responded to a call at the home where the victim lived, according to a news release from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies were called to the home for a report that someone had thrown an object through a window, the sheriff’s office said. Investigators thought that the person accused of sexually harassing the minor online may have thrown the object, according to the sheriff’s office.

Cruz began to text the girl while investigating the report of the object thrown through the window, the sheriff’s office said.

The contact “became more inappropriate,” and he asked the girl if she would meet him in person, according to the sheriff’s office.

Investigators with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office Sex Crimes Unit who were looking into the girl’s sexual cyberharassment case discovered the text exchanges with Cruz on the girl’s phone, the release says.

A detective posed as the girl and started to text back and forth with Cruz, according to the sheriff’s office.

“Cruz made sexually explicit comments to the person he believed was the minor,” the sheriff’s office said.

Cruz’s attorney, Harold Uhrig, told McClatchy News that he did not want to comment on the case while it was still going through court.

“We have defenses,” he told McClatchy News. “The case is a long way from over, and until it’s over, we probably won’t have any comment for the press other than that.”

Authorities arrested Cruz on Feb. 24, and he was charged with “soliciting a minor via computer,” the sheriff’s office said.

He was “relieved of all law enforcement duties without pay,” according to the sheriff’s office.

“These are very serious criminal allegations, and there is no place in the Orange County Sheriff’s Office for anyone that would abuse their power to victimize a minor,” Orange County Sheriff John Mina said in a statement. “To make matters worse, this deputy preyed on a young woman who was already a victim of sexual cyberharassment. As law enforcement officers, we are held to the highest standards of conduct whether on duty or off duty. He will never patrol the streets of Orange County again.”

Cruz began working with the sheriff’s office in August 2021, according to the release. The office will conduct an administrative investigation once his criminal proceedings are complete.

Orange County is in central Florida. The county seat is Orlando.

Mom finds camera husband hid in bathroom to record children, California cops say

9-year-old girl sexually assaulted in children’s area of library, California cops say

Inmate recruited others behind bars to kill her family members, Florida cops say

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest Stories

  • US STOCKS-Nasdaq, S&P stumble as Netflix, chip stocks drag; AmEx boosts Dow

    The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 fell on Friday, as Netflix weighed but American Express kept the Dow on the plus side after quarterly earnings from each, while growing pessimism that the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates soon also dented sentiment. Netflix slumped 8.77% as one of the bigger drags on the benchmark S&P index and Nasdaq after the video streaming company's second-quarter revenue view fell short of analysts' expectations while the company also unexpectedly said it would no longer provide subscriber counts.

  • CANADA FX DEBT-C$ notches weekly gain as market works off oversold position

    The Canadian dollar strengthened against its U.S. counterpart on Friday as oil prices rose and the market took stock of recent losses for the currency, but the move was limited following the recent move in yield spreads in favor of the greenback. "The Canadian dollar coming back somewhat is simply technical from an oversold market," said Michael Goshko, senior market analyst at Convera Canada. The slowdown in Canadian inflation has contrasted with the recent heating up of U.S. price pressures, raising bets the Bank of Canada would begin easing interest rates before the Federal Reserve.

  • Major zoning shift would axe minimum parking, allow denser housing, save trees

    The City of Ottawa is looking to eliminate minimum parking rules, save space for trees and allow more neighbourhood-based businesses through a major rewrite of its zoning bylaw.It's only a first draft that must now go through about a year and a half of public consultation, redrafting and voting at council and its committees, but Coun. Jeff Leiper said it goes a long way to meeting the city's development goals."This zoning bylaw obviously allows considerably more density right across the city," s

  • Watch for Lyrid fireballs to light up the sky Sunday night

    One of the oldest known meteor showers peaks Sunday night. Check your weather forecast and find somewhere dark to watch for fireballs streaking across the sky.

  • Biden administration moves to make conservation an equal to industry on US lands

    BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The Biden administration on Thursday finalized a new rule for public land management that's meant to put conservation on more equal footing with oil drilling, grazing and other extractive industries on vast government-owned properties. Officials pushed past strong opposition from private industry and Republican governors to adopt the proposal. GOP members of Congress said in response that they will seek to invalidate it. The rule from the Interior Department's Bureau of La

  • Man sets himself on fire outside Trump trial in New York

    As jury selection finished, a man set himself on fire outside the court

  • Police reviewing allegations against suspended Tory MP accused of pay-off to ‘bad people’

    Officers consider Labour call for Lancashire force to investigate

  • Brother of Taylor Swift’s boyfriend sparks controversy by calling Welsh people ‘posh’

    Jason Kelce, a recently retired top American footballer whose brother dates the singer Taylor Swift, has sparked controversy by declaring in a podcast that Wales is “posh” and filled with “rich, upper class, just beautiful white people”.

  • Red Bull team will drive an F1 car on the streets of D.C. this weekend

    Red Bull is putting on a Showrun this weekend in Washington, D.C. that will have David Coulthard driving an RB7 down Pennsylvania Avenue.

  • From picking up trash on walks to avoiding receipts, 6 tips for keeping yourself — and the planet — healthy

    Ahead of Earth Day, here's how to score a win-win for you and Mother Nature.

  • Full jury of 12 people and 6 alternates is seated in Trump's hush money trial in New York

    NEW YORK (AP) — A full jury of 12 people and six alternates was seated Friday in Donald Trump’s hush money case, setting the stage for expected opening statements next week in the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president. Lawyers spent days quizzing dozens of New Yorkers to choose the panel that has vowed to put their personal views aside and impartially judge whether the presumptive Republican presidential nominee is guilty or not. The jury includes a sales professional, a software engin

  • USDA confirms cow-to-cow transmission a factor in bird flu spread

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture said this week that cow-to-cow transmission is a factor in the spread of bird flu in dairy herds, but it still does not know exactly how the virus is being moved around. Dairy herds in eight states tested positive over the past month, along with one dairy worker in Texas. "Those of us that have worked with influenza for a long time were fairly quickly saying, 'Yep it moves cow to cow,'" Jim Lowe, an associate dean at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine, said on Friday.

  • Former police officer accused of filming sex with ‘vulnerable’ junior cleared of charges

    A former police chief inspector has been found not guilty of misconduct in public office after he was accused of forming a sexual relationship with a junior officer.

  • Canada urges halt to escalating violence as Israel suspected of airstrike on Iran

    OTTAWA — The prime minister is urging de-escalation of tensions in the Middle East, though he stopped short Friday of condemning Israel for a suspected retaliatory strike in Iran that Canada had counselled against. Justin Trudeau said Canada condemns Iran's "absolutely irresponsible" missile attack on Israel over the weekend, saying it created the danger of more escalation. He once again called for more humanitarian aid to flow into the Gaza Strip and for the militant group Hamas to lay down its

  • Three injured in vehicle accident in downtown Woodstock

    The Woodstock Police Force report members are investigating a single-vehicle collision early Friday morning on Carleton Street in downtown Woodstock. “At approximately 12:30 a.m, a side-by-side off-road vehicle rolled over, resulting in significant injuries to the occupants,” Deputy Chief Mark Bennett said in a statement released around noon Friday, April 19. “Three passengers in the vehicle were transported to and remain in the hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.” The polic

  • Ask the Expert: What is causing my Mercedes automatic to slip out of gear?

    I have an elderly but lovely Mercedes-Benz E320 diesel estate with 140,000 miles. Recently, on two occasions, the automatic gearbox seemed to have slipped into neutral, not providing any drive. It only lasted a few moments and did not require breakdown recovery. Mechanics at my local garage seem baffled and suggested changing the gearbox oil; the cost could be £400-£500, which seems excessive if it does not solve the problem. Any ideas?

  • UPDATE 1-Bank of Mexico deputy governor sees rates on hold for longer than expected

    Bank of Mexico deputy governor Jonathan Heath said on Friday the benchmark interest rate is likely to remain unchanged for longer than expected by markets, noting it would likely stay put at 11% at the May policy meeting and that the June decision would be data dependent. Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings, he underscored the importance of waiting until service sector inflation demonstrates a clear downward trajectory, suggesting the possibility of two to four rate cuts this year depending on evolving economic conditions. "Either we meet our inflation target and maybe we could cut, or we don't meet our inflation target and we don't cut," Heath said.

  • Travis Kelce’s ex Kayla Nicole asks trolls to ‘leave her alone’ as Taylor Swift releases new album

    Travis Kelce and Kayla Nicole dated off-and-on from 2017 to 2022

  • Sunak rejects offer of youth mobility scheme between EU and UK

    Labour also turns down European Commission’s proposal, which would allow young Britons to live, study and work in EU

  • Primary school teacher accused of murdering her boyfriend revealed ‘alter ego’ in journal entries, court told

    Fiona Beal admits killing her partner Nicholas Billingham but denies it was murder as court told she hid his body in a ‘de facto coffin’